Burke and Hare are two of the most infamous felons of British history.
The two Irishmen moved to Edinburgh in Scotland to work on the Union Canal (at the time, the whole of the island of Ireland, rather than just Northern Ireland, was part of Britain, so Burke and Hare were very much British).
But it wasn't long until the two labourers partook in murder and sold at least 16 of their victims for medical dissection.
In the 1800s Britain, unlike other European countries, faced an epidemic of bodysnatching, where people would enter graveyards at the dead of night, dig up cadavers and sell them to surgeons in order to make money (either the British are less squeamish about these things than other people or they are more prepared to disrepect the dead in order to make money or a combination of the two).
Prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, the only LEGAL supply of corpses for medical experiments and teaching were of people condemned to death by the courts.
However, contrary to popular belief, Burke and Hare were NOT actual bodysnatchers. They killed the people whose bodies they sold.
Burke met his end on the scaffold in 1829. Funnily enough, h[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is body ended up being dissected in anatomy lectures and students removed pieces of his skin and actually bound a book from it, stamped on the front in gold 'Burke's Skin 1829'!![/FONT]
Now, the forgotten faces of two of Britain’s most notorious murderers have mysteriously been discovered among a host of grisly artifacts at a former prison.
Plaster casts of 19th century murderers' heads were found along with a hangman’s noose at Inveraray jail - despite neither killer being held there.
Revealed: The macabre face casts of notorious Scottish murderers Burke and Hare
By Daily Mail Reporter
1st February 2009
Daily Mail
The forgotten faces of two of Britain’s most notorious murderers have mysteriously been discovered among a host of grisly artifacts at a former prison.
Plaster casts of 19th century body snatchers Burke and Hare’s heads were found along with a hangman’s noose at Inveraray jail - despite neither killer being held there.
Also, there were no recorded hangings inside the Scottish prison.
Irish labourers William Burke and William Hare killed and sold at least 16 victims for medical dissection before their reign of terror ended 180 years ago.
Grim: The death mask of Burke, left, and life mask of Hare at Inveraray prison
Records show Burke was executed on January 28, 1829, after Hare was handed immunity from prosecution for agreeing to testify against his partner.
‘We found the masks during a clean out of one of our store rooms, said Gavin Dick, General Manager of Inveraray Jail.
'It was quite a surprise. Initially we thought it was just Burke but it turns out we’ve got two heads. A death mask of Burke and a life mask of Hare.
‘Unfortunately very little is known about either head, or for that matter the hangman’s noose, and how they came to be here.’
Burke and Hare are among the most notorious of the nation’s criminals - but contrary to popular belief the two men were not grave robbers.
Although they supplied bodies to the anatomist Dr Robert Knox, at the Edinburgh Medical College, for dissection the pair found it easier to kill rather than dig up their victims.
Prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, the only legal supply of corpses for medical experiments and teaching were of people condemned to death by the courts.
However as the need to train medical students increased the number of executed criminals fell so Dr Knox was only too glad to receive the fresh bodies from the Irish men without any questions.
It’s believed Burke and Hare murdered at least 16 people and possibly as many as 30 before their crimes were discovered.
Hare turned King's Evidence and so escaped the hangman while Burke was publicly executed and his body exhibited before being skinned and dissected.
A number of ghoulish souvenirs were kept, including a book, business card case and a snuff box bound in pieces of his skin.
His skeleton is still kept under lock and key at Edinburgh University.
The activities of the former navvies, who had originally moved to Edinburgh to work on the Union Canal, caused a sensation around the world.
At the time, a new ‘science” called phrenology was a popular as it was believed the shape and contours of a person’s head could dictate their personality and “experts’ held talks across the country using casts of the heads of infamous criminals to illustrate their point.
A life mask is known to have been made of Hare during the trial and Burke’s shaven head was cast after his public execution in front of 25,000 people.
Although a handful of masks are known to still exist, with at least one in the USA, one in a museum in Swansea and copies at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, they are very rare.
‘How or why they should end up in Inveraray Jail is a something of a mystery,’ said Owen Dudley Edwards, an expert on Burke and Hare and author of several works about the murderous pair.
‘There are no links at all between Inveraray with Burke and Hare so it seems a very unlikely place to find these masks.
‘There have been cases in the past where copies have shown up in strange places, usually because they were once owned by private collectors, but there certainly weren’t many of them made.
‘There were some pretty ghoulish souvenirs from Burke such as book covers, and a snuff box.
‘There was definitely never any death mask made of Hare because nobody knows for certain what happened to him.’
Although there was much public anger at the fact that Hare was allowed to go free all attempts to bring further charges against him failed and he escaped the mob to England.
He is said to have died a blind beggar in London or even emigrated to the United States.
Andrew Connell, Museum Collections Manager of Royal College of Surgeons, which has its own copy of Burke’s death mask said the find was definitely unusual.
‘I’ve not seen any somewhere else. I don’t think they were like Charles and Diana souvenirs _ churned out in their thousands. There was probably only a handful made, if that.’
Staff at Inveraray jail are now considering whether to exhibit the masks and the mysterious hangman’s noose alongside their existing house of horrors such as an original cat o' nine tails, thumbs screws, whipping table and a tongue holder for nagging wives which are used to illustrate the history of crime and punishment in Scotland.
THE STORY OF BURKE AND HARE
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The execution of William Burke on The Lawnmarket, 28th January 1829[/FONT]
The two Irishmen moved to Edinburgh in Scotland to work on the Union Canal (at the time, the whole of the island of Ireland, rather than just Northern Ireland, was part of Britain, so Burke and Hare were very much British).
But it wasn't long until the two labourers partook in murder and sold at least 16 of their victims for medical dissection.
In the 1800s Britain, unlike other European countries, faced an epidemic of bodysnatching, where people would enter graveyards at the dead of night, dig up cadavers and sell them to surgeons in order to make money (either the British are less squeamish about these things than other people or they are more prepared to disrepect the dead in order to make money or a combination of the two).
Prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, the only LEGAL supply of corpses for medical experiments and teaching were of people condemned to death by the courts.
However, contrary to popular belief, Burke and Hare were NOT actual bodysnatchers. They killed the people whose bodies they sold.
Burke met his end on the scaffold in 1829. Funnily enough, h[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]is body ended up being dissected in anatomy lectures and students removed pieces of his skin and actually bound a book from it, stamped on the front in gold 'Burke's Skin 1829'!![/FONT]
Now, the forgotten faces of two of Britain’s most notorious murderers have mysteriously been discovered among a host of grisly artifacts at a former prison.
Plaster casts of 19th century murderers' heads were found along with a hangman’s noose at Inveraray jail - despite neither killer being held there.
Revealed: The macabre face casts of notorious Scottish murderers Burke and Hare
By Daily Mail Reporter
1st February 2009
Daily Mail
The forgotten faces of two of Britain’s most notorious murderers have mysteriously been discovered among a host of grisly artifacts at a former prison.
Plaster casts of 19th century body snatchers Burke and Hare’s heads were found along with a hangman’s noose at Inveraray jail - despite neither killer being held there.
Also, there were no recorded hangings inside the Scottish prison.
Irish labourers William Burke and William Hare killed and sold at least 16 victims for medical dissection before their reign of terror ended 180 years ago.
Grim: The death mask of Burke, left, and life mask of Hare at Inveraray prison
Records show Burke was executed on January 28, 1829, after Hare was handed immunity from prosecution for agreeing to testify against his partner.
‘We found the masks during a clean out of one of our store rooms, said Gavin Dick, General Manager of Inveraray Jail.
'It was quite a surprise. Initially we thought it was just Burke but it turns out we’ve got two heads. A death mask of Burke and a life mask of Hare.
‘Unfortunately very little is known about either head, or for that matter the hangman’s noose, and how they came to be here.’
Burke and Hare are among the most notorious of the nation’s criminals - but contrary to popular belief the two men were not grave robbers.
Although they supplied bodies to the anatomist Dr Robert Knox, at the Edinburgh Medical College, for dissection the pair found it easier to kill rather than dig up their victims.
Prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, the only legal supply of corpses for medical experiments and teaching were of people condemned to death by the courts.
However as the need to train medical students increased the number of executed criminals fell so Dr Knox was only too glad to receive the fresh bodies from the Irish men without any questions.
It’s believed Burke and Hare murdered at least 16 people and possibly as many as 30 before their crimes were discovered.
Hare turned King's Evidence and so escaped the hangman while Burke was publicly executed and his body exhibited before being skinned and dissected.
A number of ghoulish souvenirs were kept, including a book, business card case and a snuff box bound in pieces of his skin.
His skeleton is still kept under lock and key at Edinburgh University.
The activities of the former navvies, who had originally moved to Edinburgh to work on the Union Canal, caused a sensation around the world.
At the time, a new ‘science” called phrenology was a popular as it was believed the shape and contours of a person’s head could dictate their personality and “experts’ held talks across the country using casts of the heads of infamous criminals to illustrate their point.
A life mask is known to have been made of Hare during the trial and Burke’s shaven head was cast after his public execution in front of 25,000 people.
Although a handful of masks are known to still exist, with at least one in the USA, one in a museum in Swansea and copies at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, they are very rare.
‘How or why they should end up in Inveraray Jail is a something of a mystery,’ said Owen Dudley Edwards, an expert on Burke and Hare and author of several works about the murderous pair.
‘There are no links at all between Inveraray with Burke and Hare so it seems a very unlikely place to find these masks.
‘There have been cases in the past where copies have shown up in strange places, usually because they were once owned by private collectors, but there certainly weren’t many of them made.
‘There were some pretty ghoulish souvenirs from Burke such as book covers, and a snuff box.
‘There was definitely never any death mask made of Hare because nobody knows for certain what happened to him.’
Although there was much public anger at the fact that Hare was allowed to go free all attempts to bring further charges against him failed and he escaped the mob to England.
He is said to have died a blind beggar in London or even emigrated to the United States.
Andrew Connell, Museum Collections Manager of Royal College of Surgeons, which has its own copy of Burke’s death mask said the find was definitely unusual.
‘I’ve not seen any somewhere else. I don’t think they were like Charles and Diana souvenirs _ churned out in their thousands. There was probably only a handful made, if that.’
Staff at Inveraray jail are now considering whether to exhibit the masks and the mysterious hangman’s noose alongside their existing house of horrors such as an original cat o' nine tails, thumbs screws, whipping table and a tongue holder for nagging wives which are used to illustrate the history of crime and punishment in Scotland.
THE STORY OF BURKE AND HARE
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The execution of William Burke on The Lawnmarket, 28th January 1829[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Contrary to popular belief, Burke and Hare were not grave robbers. Although common practice at the time, digging up corpses would have involved too much effort and besides the fresher the bodies they delivered to Professor Robert Knox (on a no questions asked basis) the better. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The two Irish immigrants moved to Edinburgh to work on The Union Canal but didn't meet until Burke moved from Leith into a boarding house with his partner, Helen McDougal. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Log's Lodgings in Tanner's Close in West Port, was run by Margaret Laird and William Hare. It was named after Margaret's previous husband who had died and the couple lived together as if married.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In 1827 when a lodger of Hare's named Donald died naturally owing him £4 in rent. Hare knew that there was a high demand for bodies for anatomical study and saw a way the dead man could pay back his debt.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]On the day of Old Donald's funeral the two men removed his body from the coffin and filled it with tanning bark. Later they took the body to Professor Knox at Surgeon Square and were paid 7 pounds and 10 shillings for it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]They celebrated their easily gained cash, but the money wasn't to last and when another of Hare's lodger's, Jospeh, fell ill (although not seriously) Burke and Hare decided to take it upon themselves to end his suffering whilst seeing another opportunity for easy money and so their murderous career began.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Their chosen method of murder was to restrict their victim's breathing by covering the nose and mouth while the other restrained them. This left no suspicious marks on the body and provided the anatomy students with fresh undamaged cadavers. This method later became known as 'Burking'.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]They murdered at least 16 people in just under a year before being caught, although the figure could have been as high as 30. At first they deliberately preyed on people who wouldn't be known or recognised but their greed for easy money combined with their sheer laziness lead to their downfall and before long they regarded almost anyone was a potential victim. They even contemplated killing and selling their own partner's Helen and Margaret if they were ever short of money.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mary Paterson was a teenage prostitute who was lured to Burke's brother's house in Gibb's Close in the Canongate with her friend Janet Brown. Mary passed out with drink but Janet kept her head and excused herself saying she would return later for Mary. On her return she was told that Mary and Burke had gone out but she insisted on waiting. Her landlady Mrs Lawrie, was concerned and sent a servant to tell Janet to leave immediately. Mary was actuallly still in the house, lying dead and Janet was lucky to have escaped a similar fate.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]One of their victims, Ann McDougal, was a relative of Burke's partner Helen and although Burke had no qualms about killing her, he asked that Hare did the deed on that occassion.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mary Halden, another prostitute, was lured to Hare's boarding house. When her daughter, Peggy, called on Log's Lodgings looking for her after hearing she was last seen with Hare. Both women ended up dead and delivered to Professor Knox where they fetched £10 each.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mary and Peggy were familiar faces and gossip surrounding their dissapearance soon spread. Rather than lying low Burke and Hare became even more careless and murdered a well known children's entertainer, James Wilson, known as 'Daft Jamie'. He had a deformed foot and was instantly recognised by paying students at Professor Knox's anatomy class. Knox strongly denied that the subject was James Wilson but immediately began his lecture by dissecting his face.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]On Halloween 1828 Mary Docherty, the 16th and final victim, an old Irish woman was invited back to stay with Burke and Helen after they convinced her they were related.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Both had since left the Hare's Boarding House after an argument over Burke's suspicions that the Hare's were selling bodies to Knox behind his back and Burke and Helen were now taking in lodgers of their own, a couple James and Ann Gray. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Whilst Mary stayed the night at Burke's the Gray's were put up at the Hare's 'temporarily'.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]On returning to the Burke's, Ann questioned where Mary was and was told she had been asked to leave after being 'over friendly' with Burke. But the truth was she was still in the house, dead and hidden under the bed in the spare room and covered with straw. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]James and Ann Gray grew suspicious after being sternly warned to keep out of the spare room. When they were alone they discovered Mary's body and immediately confronted Helen who panicked and offered them £10 per week to keep quiet. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Gray's refused and went to report them to the police but Helen must have warned Burke because Mary's body had already found it's way to Professor Knox at Surgeon's Square before the police arrived. It was later found by police and identified by James Gray.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Burke and Helen were arrested and when interviewed separately they had conflicting accounts of the events. Under investigation Burke blamed Hare and claimed to know nothing about what had been happening and vice-versa. The Hare's were also arrested.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]After a month of questioning the police had little evidence to secure a prosecution and finally the Lord Advocate, Sir William Rae, offered Hare immunity to turn King's Evidence and testify against Burke and Helen which he readily did.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The short trial at the High Court of Justicuary began on Christmas Eve 1828 and the following morning Burke and Helen were charged with the murder of Mary Docherty and Burke alone was also charged with the murder of Mary Paterson and James Wilson and sentenced to death by hanging. Helen's part in the crimes were 'not proven' and she was freed.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]On January 28th 1929 over 25,000 people attended and cheered the hanging of William Burke in the Lawnmarket. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ironically his body ended up being dissected in anatomy lectures and Some students removed peices of his skin and bound a book from it, stamped on the front in gold 'Burke's Skin 1829' [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Before discection, Burke's body was put on public exhibition and thousands of people streamed passed his his naked corpse on the slab at a rate of 60 per minute. His skeleton can still be seen at Surgeon's Hall along with his death mask and the life mask of Hare.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]There was much public anger at the fact that Hare was allowed to be let off 'Scot free' but despite attempts to bring further charges against him by James Wilson's mother, he was released in February 1829 and escaped to England via the postal coach. There were stories his identity was discovered and baying mobs threw him into a pit of lime and he spent his final days as a blind beggar in London.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Both Helen and Margaret were mobbed everywhere they went and it is rumoured that Helen escaped to Australia where she died in 1868. Margaret is said to have fled to Ireland after a lucky escape from mobs in Glasgow.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Although Professor Knox actively encouraged the pair to supply as many body's as possible, he was also aquitted for his part in the crimes, but his reputation made it difficult to continiue his work in Edinburgh and he eventually moved to London.[/FONT]
Edinburgh-Royal Mile-Burke and Hare
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